The Lady of Shalott written by Lord Tennyson is a mythical poem about a worman's love for an unattainable man. One interpretation regarding the function of the morror is crucial to identifying before one can fully grasp the rest of the poem. One comes to this conclusion because the function of the mirror is derectly responsible for what happens in the rest of the poem. This statement denotes that the fulfillment of the rest of the Lady of Shalott could not occur without her first seeing Lancelot in the mirror. Yet the qquestion is not what a function is but what function the mirror probides. At first thought one could charge that the mirror is there in order to reveal Lancelot to the Lady of Shalott. After reading the piece in excess as was required to write this essay this interpretaion seems at least, at the very minimum a shallow and sperficial translation of the function of the mirror serves.

English: Illustration to Tennyson's "The Lady of S...

The Lady of Shalott, based on The Lady of Shalott ...

Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancel...

One of these functions is obviously to connect the Lady to the outside world since it is her only means to do so without risking her life. A second function that the mirror serves is to simply reflect the most beautiful parts of the island and create a contrast between the interior and exterior worlds. Lady of Shalott simply is far away from any sadness or ugliness of the world. A third function of the mirror and it could be argued, the most important function to fulfill the curse placed upon the Lady by making the world to tempting to be secluded from. To once again reiterate, the functions of the mirror contributed directly to every of other aspect of the poem.

To begin, the first function the Lady of Shalott's mirror infers is evidently to show the world to...

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6 pages162May/20034.3

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